I will praise any man that will praise me.

I’m not arrogant enough to look back on my career and criticize my choices. It’s really not my place.

To be happy we must not be too concerned with others.

You’ll never do a whole lot unless you’re brave enough to try.

I think I mainly climb mountains because I get a great deal of enjoyment out of it. I never attempt to analyze these things too thoroughly, but I think that all mountaineers do get a great deal of satisfaction out of overcoming some challenge which they think is very difficult for them, or which perhaps may be a little dangerous.

At the end of the day, I understand that life has road blocks, and life is like school – you’ll be tested; we gotta pass it.

Adventure is not outside man; it is within.

The Sisters of Notre Dame at St. Aloysius Grade School influenced my life tremendously. This was due to the fact that they encouraged you always to make sure that God is the focus of your life, and they didn’t allow you to do anything except to the very best of your ability.

In a controversy the instant we feel anger we have already ceased striving for the truth, and have begun striving for ourselves.

I’ve been reckless, but I’m not a rebel without a cause.

I learned a long time ago the wisest thing I can do is be on my own side, be an advocate for myself and others like me.

As a vulnerability researcher, the greatest barrier I see is our low tolerance for vulnerability. We’re almost afraid to be happy. We feel like it’s inviting disaster.

Man needs his difficulties because they are necessary to enjoy success.

To live alone is the fate of all great souls.

Forty is when you actually begin even deserving to be on stage telling people what you think.

Some virtues are only seen in affliction and others only in prosperity.

I have so much in my life. I want to be of value to the world.

Watch out for the joy-stealers: gossip, criticism, complaining, faultfinding, and a negative, judgmental attitude.

A journey is a person in itself; no two are alike. And all plans, safeguards, policing, and coercion are fruitless. We find that after years of struggle that we do not take a trip; a trip takes us.

Do not look for approval except for the consciousness of doing your best.

I realize I don’t do a very good job in keeping up to date, but I try to.

As a young kid, I really wanted to be rich.

I’m the kind of person who needs to feel like everything happens for a reason. When you date a guy and it goes badly, that’s horrible. But if you can write a song about it, then it was worth it.

Do not give in too much to feelings. A overly sensitive heart is an unhappy possession on this shaky earth.

I’m not looking to freak people out – eating rodents or bugs. I don’t do that anymore.

I’ve always believed in God. I also think that’s the sort of thing that either comes as part of the equipment, the capacity to believe, or at some point in your life, when you’re in a position where you actually need help from a power greater than yourself, you simply make an agreement.

We are wiser than we know.

At one point I learned transcendental meditation. This was 30-something years ago. It took me back to the way that I naturally was as a child growing up way in the country, rarely seeing people. I was in that state of oneness with creation and it was as if I didn’t exist except as a part of everything.

‚Trilogy‘ was more of a claustrophobic body of work. Before it was released, I hadn’t left my city for 21 years, and I had never been on a plane, not once. I spent my entire life on one setting; that’s probably why pieces of the album feel like one long track, because that’s what my life felt like. It felt like one long song.

He who praises everybody, praises nobody.

I always had faith in my creative capacity.

Before finding music, I didn’t have too many aspirations. I wanted to hang out, make a little money from whatever I had to do.

Sports are such a great teacher. I think of everything they’ve taught me: camaraderie, humility, how to resolve differences.

How few there are who have courage enough to own their faults, or resolution enough to mend them.

We grow older, but we do not change. We become more sophisticated, but at bottom we continue to resemble our young selves, eager to listen to the next story and the next, and the next.

Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.

Sometimes I feel my whole life has been one big rejection.

I was bullied as a boy – lots of kids are, but hopefully most of us get on with our lives and grow up.

If you set out to be liked, you would be prepared to compromise on anything at any time, and you would achieve nothing.

You have to be able to accept failure to get better.

I am the only person in the world I should like to know thoroughly.

I’ve been called a moron since I was about four. My father called me a moron. My grandfather said I was a moron. And a lot of times when I’m driving, I hear I’m a moron. I like being a moron.

Almost all of our sorrows spring out of our relations with other people.

Key is never be afraid of being yourself. Never!

So many people live with anger and unforgiveness, and many of them are Christians.

Character isn’t something you were born with and can’t change, like your fingerprints. It’s something you weren’t born with and must take responsibility for forming.

But by reading them again and again finally I was able to grasp the essential part. What emotion, enthusiasm, enlightenment and confidence they communicated to me! I wept for joy.

Back in the day, what motivated me was overcoming myself. Now I believe in being a leader. I’ve done it all – I’m good. Now, it’s about setting an example for others to follow. I can’t just talk it – I have to live it.

If you live only in one culture for the first 20 years of your life, you become conditioned without knowing it.

Whatever that means, however you got on that mountain, why not try to climb it? And do it in your own way.

Me not finishing school – in my head, I still have this insecurity when I’m talking to someone educated.

Never take anything for granted.

Catering to bad feelings feeds and empowers them.

Someone told me something that stuck with me: ‚You have to envision your life, and then go backwards.‘ I’ve been living by that motto for a while, so I see where I need to be. Now I’m just backtracking and trying to get back up there.

If the other person injures you, you may forget the injury; but if you injure him you will always remember.

I always had music growing up, but music was also like a journal. It was like my personal diary or personal journal. A lot of the things I couldn’t express to an individual, I would express them in my music.

It’s better to hang out with people better than you. Pick out associates whose behavior is better than yours and you’ll drift in that direction.

I’m super self-critical, which I think is good, because then I get exactly what I want. I’m critical of other people, too – I try not to be, though.

I was asked to act when I couldn’t act. I was asked to sing ‚Funny Face‘ when I couldn’t sing, and dance with Fred Astaire when I couldn’t dance – and do all kinds of things I wasn’t prepared for. Then I tried like mad to cope with it.

I went through a period when I felt my film characters were having more fun than I was. It might partly explain why I ended up tattooed or doing certain extreme things in my life.

I don’t dislike any of my exes. If I took time to form a relationship, it’s gonna hurt when we move on, but are you puttin‘ White-Out over all that beautiful time together? That was real time in your life. It’s connected to where you are today.